Posted on 11/24/2014 9:59:54 PM PST by Altariel
MOREAUVILLE, La. (KALB News Channel 5) -- A family in Moreauville is pleading with their village to overturn an ordinance that would force them to get rid of their beloved family pet.
On October 13, the village passed an ordinance that states if you own a pit bull or a Rottweiler, you must get rid of it by December 1 or they will take it for "disposition."
News Channel 5's Brooke Buford (Twitter: @brookebuford) has the story.
O'Hara Owens is trying to spend as much time as she can with her beloved pit bull, Zeus, before the village she lives in promises to take him away from her and dispose of him on December 1.
"If anything ever happened to him, I would just shut down," she said.
O'Hara suffers from severe neck problems and has been forced to wear a halo brace and use a wheelchair.
She says Zeus acts as a sort of "therapy dog," providing love and support for her and her other brothers and sisters.
"I can sit here if I'm in pain, he comes and he notices it before I even make any noise," she said.
But, Zeus has been blacklisted as a "vicious" breed in Moreauville.
On October 13, the village voted to ban pit bulls and Rottweilers.
A letter was sent out to owners saying that if they didn't get rid of them by December 1, then they would be taken for "further disposition."
"The breed is not vicious," she said. "It's the owner. It is the way that you raise them."
O'Hara's parents tried to fight the passing of the ordinance at the meeting, but were outnumbered.
They say no one has ever complained about their dog and it has never bitten anyone.
"I asked the question, well what if I don't give you my dog?" said Joanna Armand, O'Hara's mother. "(Chief of Police) Scott Lemoine said they would come and get the dog and the dog would be disposed of and we would be fined."
News Channel 5 reached out to village to hear its side of the story.
Alderman Penn Lemoine said the ordinance was created to appease several residents.
"We had several residents that were complaining about not being able to walk along the neighborhoods because these dogs were basically running along town," Lemoine said in a phone interview.
We asked Lemoine about dog attacks...
"There have been, but I don't think they're documented," he said.
And, if they plan to kill the dogs they collect on December 1...
"I'd rather not elaborate on that," he said.
"Is that what it is? Are you going to kill the dogs?" asked reporter, Brooke Buford.
"If that's what the ordinance says, then that's what it says," Lemoine responded.
Lemoine told us he owns a German Shepard. But, he only considers pit bulls and Rottweilers as "vicious."
He also says what the town is doing is completely legal.
O'Hara Owens and her family say they plan to continue to fight for Zeus.
"Like I told them, they're going to have to take him from my cold, dead hands before they get a hold of him," Owens said.
Alderman Lemoine says if there's a strong enough public outcry about the severity of the ordinance he says he would consider possibly changing it.
The next council meeting is December 8.
If you would like to sign a petition to overturn the ordinance, you can through the family's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/savingzeusybaby?pnref=story
First they came for the rottweilers and “pit bulls”, and I didn’t complain because I did not own a rottweiler or a “pit bull”.
Good. This family can get a normal dog to replace the garbage breed PB.
I may be one of the few that support a ban on this breed nationwide. I know that the animals are not naturally aggressive. I also know that a lot of people get pitbulls because they are “badass” dogs.
When one of those “badass” dogs gets pissed off, people get hurt. Much worse than if a shepard or Doberman attacked.
The pitbull breed was developed solely for dog fighting. When they bite, it is much worse than most other dogs.
Assault dogs?
Yes!
So many good dogs out there in need of a loving home.
Man bred these monsters into existence, man is to blame... but they must be eliminated.
I believe this breed came about due to the old British taste for animal blood-sports...dog fighting. A truly evil thing :-(
Any breed and any mongrel can be vicious. So you just judged all dogs to be “garbage breed(s)”
I have a doberman behind a 6 foot chain link fence. My immediate neighbors have German Shepards, a pit bull, and a Rottweiler. There’s a reason we don’t have cocker spaniels. As I’m typing this, my phone alerted me to burglary alarms going off a block away. 8 minutes before that, I was alerted to alarms going off at a gas station a block away. my wife was almost car jacked in our drive way. I woke up one morning to my truck jacked up and missing a tire and wheel. we have been vandalized twice. many of our neighbors have been robbed. A store owner was shot and killed during an armed robbery a block away not too long ago. There is a reason we have large vicious breeds. Oh, and a cop lives 3 houses down from me and his marked police car is parked in his driveway nightly. Again, there is a reason we have the dogs we do.
Pitbulls are naturally aggressive. Not all the time, but it’s like there’s a switch that goes off, and sweet family pet turns into Cujo. I’ve seen it happen, and you’re right, the result is carnage.
During my lifetime, Cocker Spaniels and Labs have also been the dogs most often causing injury to humans.
Really, we should just ban all breeds (because, of course, government action is the solution to all “problems”). Mutts rule.
When one of those “badass” dogs gets pissed off fall into the wrong hands, people get hurt. Much worse than if a shepard or Doberman attacked it's an assault rifle.
The pitbull breed was Guns were developed solely for dog fighting killing. When they bite shoot, it is much worse than most other dogs many other weapons, such as knifes.
(Your "logic", applied to other things.)
Have you considered moving? Just sayin’.
What monsters?
Every pit bull I’ve ever come across has behaved in a non-aggressive friendly manner like any other dog, even friendlier than some German shepherds or blue heelers or suchlike. You mistreat them for the purpose of fighting, they’ll go for your throat, limbs or abdomen; you raise them right and they’ll behave friendly like any other dog.
There is a way to do this without depriving citizens of their property. Merely require that no more pitfalls or Rottweilers may be brought INTO the city limits after a specific date. Those that exist within the city limits on that date, owned by current residents may continue to live with their owners. The new owners may not breed their dogs, or if they do, the pups must be adopted out as soon as they reach 3 months old. After a period of about ten years, there will be no more pits or rotweillers within the city limits. Done. No one is deprived of his property.
pitfalls.... lol. Autocorrect can be your friend or your worst enemy.
And that’s cause to ban all of them?
Any dog in the world possesses that “switch”, and it is not randomly triggered. Pit bulls due to their jaw strength are capable of more “carnage” than other breeds.
No offense, but I usually end up wanting to know all the details of a matter with dogs going off. If the history of the dog is not known, then what set the dog off will also remain largely unknown.
They are very lovable and friendly until they aren't, which takes about a microsecond. I've seen a friendly pitbull that I knew for years suddenly go ballistic on a adolescent German Shepard for no reason and crush it's leg it seconds. It could just as easily have been a person. How many times have you seen stories of pits who caused mayhem and the owners talk about what a sweet family pet they are? It's not always because a-holes mistreat them. Sometimes but not mostly. It's their nature.
“I woke up one morning to my truck jacked up and missing a tire and wheel. we have been vandalized twice. many of our neighbors have been robbed. A store owner was shot and killed during an armed robbery a block away not too long ago”
Jeez. When the red flags are waving like that it’s time to take evasive action. There must be someplace else to live!
You are spot on. Any dog mistreated will misbehave.
I found and posted a study here that showed some vet med geek had actually tested bite strength of several different ‘scary breeds’ and the “bully breeds” ranked near the bottom.
I have a sign that says to forget about the dogs and beware of the human male foaming the premises.
If my town sent me a notice like this, it would go straight in the ‘round file.’
It’s too bad there are so many freepers afraid of dogs. This is something you might expect to see on DU: “Ban them!”
Carry pepper spray. I can fit a Springfield XDS .45 in my pocket.
Quit your hippie whining. (Not you Olog.)
“Assault dogs?”
Pit bulls are the muzzie jihadists of the dog world. I’m just sayin’. I don’t trust them at all. Maybe it has something to do with their dipsh*t owners claiming “oh he’s good” as it lunges at my dog from its leash and the owner can barely hang on to the beast. The owners of these weapons need to to train and socialize their dogs. But most of the time the dogs are barely under control. There’s a reason they have such a bad reputation. The consequences are in the news way too often.
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